Science is a way to not fool ourselves.
Carl SaganRead
The nuclear arms race is like two sworn enemies standing waist deep in gasoline, one with three matches, the other with five.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote illustrates the dangerous escalation of the nuclear arms race, where both sides are heavily armed and on the brink of destruction.
Carl Sagan's quote uses the metaphor of two enemies standing in gasoline to convey the precariousness and volatility of the nuclear arms race. The matches symbolize the capability for mutual destruction that both parties possess, highlighting the dire consequences of escalating military capabilities without resolving underlying conflicts. The imagery emphasizes that both sides are equally vulnerable and that any spark could lead to catastrophic consequences.
Themes
NuclearArms RaceDangerPeaceDestruction
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about disarmament, one might say, 'As Carl Sagan warned, the nuclear arms race is like two sworn enemies in gasoline, and we must find a way to extinguish the flames.'
More from Carl Sagan
All quotes βIn more than one respect, the exploring of the Solar System and homesteading other worlds constitutes the beginning, much more than the end, of history.
Carl SaganRead
How smart does a chimpanzee have to be before killing him constitutes murder?
Carl SaganRead
The hole in the ozone layer is a kind of skywriting. At first it seemed to spell out our continuing complacency before a witch's brew of deadly perils. But perhaps it really tells of a newfound talent to work together to protect the global environment.
Carl SaganRead
There is a reward structure in science that is very interesting: Our highest honors go to those who disprove the findings of the most revered among us. So Einstein is revered not just because he made so many fundamental contributions to science, but because he found an imperfection in the fundamental contribution of Isaac Newton.
Carl SaganRead
The simplest thought, like the concept of the number one, has an elaborate logical underpinning.
Carl SaganRead
Similar quotes
Meaning doesn't lie in things. Meaning lies in us. When we attach value to things that aren't love - the money, the car, the house, the prestige - we are loving things that can't love us back. We are searching for meaning in the meaningless. Money, of itself, means nothing. Material things, of themselves, mean nothing. It's not that they're bad. It's that they're nothing. ("A Return to Love")
Marianne WilliamsonRead
However much we guard against it, we tend to shape ourselves in the image others have of us.
Eric HofferRead
The Lord never lays more on us, in the way of chastisement, than our state of heart makes needful; so that whilst He smites with the one hand, He supports with the other.
George MullerRead
I was born in South Africa during apartheid, a system of laws that made it illegal for people to mix in South Africa. And this was obviously awkward because I grew up in a mixed family. My mother's a black woman, South African Xhosa woman... and my father's Swiss, from Switzerland.
Trevor NoahRead
Swift has sailed into his rest; Savage indignation there Cannot lacerate his breast Imitate him if you dare, World-besotted traveler; he Served human liberty.
William Butler YeatsRead
Conviction is not merely an opinion. It is something rooted so deeply in the conscience that to change a conviction would be to change the very essence of who you are.
Ravi ZachariasRead